Universal Connection
by Zoerawrr
Summary: ...Formerly Something Different...I decided to change alot about this. the title, hunter's personality and other stuff is different now. i'm putting in a little snippet aswell. I'm so sorry about this but... ON HIATUS or suspended for a bit if you're UK
1. Greetings

**Hey All! Ok I got really bored during my ****Easter holiday and my other stories I am currently having trouble with, so I thought I might try a new story. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the CHERUB idea, or the t-shirts later on in the chapter. I have them as in from the shops, but they don't BELONG to me. ARGH so confusing!**

July 15th

9-year-old Aaron lay on his creaky camp-bed in the attic room of The Carlton's Care Home. He was the only habitant of this room, despite the protests of his identical twin brother, Ronnie. Aaron and Ronnie had just been sent to this care home, after being found roaming the streets of Hertfordshire. As he stared silently at the ceiling, eyelids drooping slightly, he started hearing the sounds of his screaming mother. These screams had only been heard a couple of weeks ago, but Aaron heard them as if she were standing next to him, pleading for help. Aaron fell into an uneasy sleep, and found himself recounting what happened…

"Aaron, come down here for a sec, I need to give you a present," his father had called softly. Aaron had quickly made his way to the living, eager to get a present without Ronnie getting one too. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw his mother with a tearful face cowering on the floor, his father standing over him with an electrical cord in his hand.

"PLEASE, NO! AARON, GET HELP! HELP YOUR MUMMY!" his mother screamed. At this, his father turned and grabbed Aaron, and then he pushed him into the corner farthest away from the door, facing the room.

"If you dare move, then you'll get what you deserve, and more," his father had whispered softly into his ear. Shaking like a leaf and sobbing uncontrollably, Aaron had to endure his mother screaming for help. Then, his father grabbed a statue, struck his mother twice round the head with it and watched he fall to the floor. She was dead before she hit the floor. Aaron's father turned and saw Aaron facing him, grabbed the petrified before lashing him with the cord all over his back, causing him to scream in pain and fear.

On and on it went, until there were sirens outside, probably on the other side of the town. Aaron's dad threw him down and withdrew a gun. Aaron thought it was going to be used on him, so he sat frozen, too scared to move. But instead, his dad put the gun against his own head, and pulled the trigger. Aaron just stared at his father, also lying dead on the floor and with the gun still against his head.

Aaron jolted awake. He didn't need the rest of the dream to remember grabbing his brother, who was sitting bolt upright, vivid green eyes wide with fear, putting on a few clothes, and then running away. His father had always said that police and ambulances were evil, and you should never go near them, and their sirens were warning signs telling you to get away. As they had been brought up with this notion, he had a massive fear of police and police stations, whereas with Ronnie, it was anything to do with ambulances and hospitals. The twins had spent the previous two weeks roaming the streets before a policeman found them. He had had to drag Aaron into the squad car.

Since they had arrived at Carlton's that morning, everyone had been tiptoeing around them, letting them have what they wanted, and not making them do anything. _But that won't last,_ thought Aaron.

Aaron and Ronnie had arrived very early, at least 3 o'clock. They were taken to a kitchen by a policeman who had found them and a care-worker who had been notified. Aaron had to be dragged in by the care-worker because he was so petrified of the policeman. Much to everyone's surprise, another set of twins were in the kitchen, having a hurried conversation. They had fair hair, blue eyes and slim builds.

"Callum, Connor, get to your room! How dare you be up this late!" the care-worker had said in a stern whisper, causing the boys to hurry though to the corridor and up the stairs. Then Aaron and Ronnie had been shown to their room, and Aaron had complained that he wanted his own because Ronnie would snore. Because everyone wanted to be nice, Aaron had got his wish and had the attic room. The real reason he wanted his own room, though, was because he didn't want Ronnie to see the marks on his body, where the cable had hit him.

That had been hours ago. Now, Aaron could hear the sounds of people making their way to breakfast, before heading off to school. Aaron stayed where he was, not wanting to be with strangers at the moment. A few minutes after the noise subsided, a timid knock announced the arrival of Ronnie.

"You can come in,"

Ronnie entered the room and shut the door quietly behind him. After looking for a few minutes into his twin brother's tearful face, Aaron pat his bed, inviting Ronnie to sit there. Ronnie practically sprinted the length of the room to Aaron's bed, where he sat crying his eyes out onto Aarons shoulder.

Aaron was only 2 minutes older than Ronnie, but Ronnie really respected him. They sat together for over an hour, with Aaron slowly comforting Ronnie, before a maternal looking woman poked her head round the door.

"Can we talk for a minute, boys?" the woman asked. Aaron thought for a minute before nodding his head. The woman made her way towards the camp bed, but sat on the chair beside it.

"First of all, I should introduce myself. My name is Zara. I've been asked to talk to you two, help with your problems, any special needs and all that. So first, I need your names and dates of birth. Then, I'll do my appearance form, then, once I've clarified who you are, we can discuss… important details.

Firstly, I need your names."

It was Ronnie who answered, "I'm Ronnie. That's how it is on my birth certificate. Not Ronald. And my brother is Aaron. Our last name is Bracka. That's spelt, B-R-A-C-K-A. Our birthday is 25th September 1997. Aaron is oldest by like 2 minutes."

"Ok, that seems fine," Zara announced, "now, I need to know if either of you has special needs or has to have any medication, or if you have allergies."

It was Ronnie again who answered, "We're allergic to nuts. We're ok if we're near them, but if we eat one, Aaron's throat closes up and my tongue swells."

"Ok, anything else?"

Now it was Aaron's turn, "Ronnie has dyslexia, and I have Asperger's"

"Asperger Syndrome?" Zara asked with an expression that the twins couldn't make out. "Do you take medication?"

Ronnie nodded and explained for Aaron. " and he started to have a therapy thing but he didn't like it. There used to be a social worker helping us out. We got a leaflet ages ago. He doesn't interact with people but when he does he really is quite nice. When things have been explained to him he thinks everything should be like that, so he'll have a problem when he moves to an older school, but he eventually gets used to it. His case isn't severe, but it's significant. He apparently has above average verbal skills. Well, I do too, but that's because we hang out together. Aaron had a routine and I think that he'll be a bit frustrated because that's gone out of the window. He has a lack of common sense but he is so smart. The doctor says he has ADD. He was diagnosed with it the same time I was told I have dyslexia."

"and when was that?" this was Zara.

Aaron answered "about a couple of months before…" he went quiet.

Zara was very sympathetic and let him have a few moments of silence before speaking. "Yes, I need to talk about that. I don't know if you knew this, but your parents are dead."

Ronnie let out a cry and started sobbing all over again, but Aaron hung his head and said, "I know,"

Zara was shocked, "you do?!"

"Yes, I was there…" and he told her exactly what happened, as she took down notes, and Ronnie kept sobbing. When he got to the bit about being hit, he had to show his marks, and when he said about seeing his dad commit suicide, Zara actually gasped, but carried on writing it down.

Aaron finished talking. The minute he finished, the loudest silence he'd ever heard filled the room.

"Erm, ok. Er, I think I should take you to the doctor soon, about those marks, and your medication. You won't need to go back to school until you're ready, which I daresay will be September. I don't think we should take you back to get your belongings; it'll be too much to get your head round. We'll buy some replacement stuff. Your mother left you all the money in her will. So did your dad. That money includes all that they inherited. You two are some very wealthy boys. You each inherited £500,000. Once the house is sold you will get more. You can use the money however you wish, but I'd save some for when you're older. I need to do this chart, so if you could fill the form and everything in for yourself, Aaron, and I'll do Ronnie's."

She handed him a form to fill in. Zara had already filled in the parts she knew, so Aaron did the rest. The completed form looked like this:

Name: Aaron Chase Bracka

DOB: 25/09/97

Gender: Male

Siblings: Identical twin- Ronnie Michael Bracka

Known Allergies: nuts

Other medical: Asperger syndrome; Attention Deficit Disorder

Eyes: Green

Hair: blond

Build: slim

Complexion: pale

Race: Caucasian

Nationality: English/Finnish

Religion: None (no belief)

Known Living relatives: none

Mother: deceased

Father: deceased

Last school: Breol Lane Primary

_Some time later_

The next six weeks were pretty much the same. The twins Aaron and Ronnie had seen on the first night had befriended them at breakfast one day. It was the first meal Aaron had had with everyone else present, as before his brother would bring it up for them. Every few nights Zara would come and speak to them. One night, about a week after they arrived, she explained that she had made a doctor's appointment for Aaron, and that Connor would be taking him. Aaron liked Connor, so had no objections. He was more worried about being out in the open for the first time since being found.

The event was going to be made into a shopping trip, but since Ronnie wouldn't go near the doctors' surgery, it was agreed to meet up in the bookshop in Stevenage Town centre after the appointment.

Ronnie and Callum spent a long time in the bookshop before picking out some audio books, and books specially made with bigger words, as this would help Ronnie. Callum knew about Ronnie's dyslexia so he agreed to help him out reading the books.

After 30 minutes, Connor and Aaron showed up with cream for Aaron's back, his AS medication, and some omega 3 fish oil tablets for Ronnie. The new arrivals picked out some novels and then the group set off to the clothes shops.

Callum noticed that while the younger set of twins bought identical clothes most of the time, they decided on different things as well, whereas Connor noticed that with the different clothes, Aaron picked darker colours and stuff that wasn't going to arouse anyone's attention, while Ronnie picked bright clothes with big slogans.

When they got back to the care home, they looked back through all the stuff they bought. Aaron had got 1 pair of black trainers, one pair of navy basketball shoes, one set of good dress shoes, a few pairs of jeans, green cargo trousers, loads of plain t-shirts in black, dark green, dark blue, white and brown, a green army jacket (not camo), and a couple of baseball caps. He also got a suit and tie for formal occasions.

Ronnie, on the other hand, had 1 pair of black trainers identical to Aaron's, a pair of bright, banana yellow basketball shoes, an identical pair of good dress shoes to Aaron's, a few pairs of jeans, bright red cargo pants, a few of the same shirts as Aaron although some were bright with slogans. One was yellow and had a slogan of "Hi, I'm Barry Scott!" on the front in red/orange letters, another said "I love lamp" in yellow letters on a navy background. They were all pretty much like that. He got a green army jacket as well, and some beanies in bright colours like pumpkin orange, neon green, bright yellow and red.

_**UC-UC-UC-UC-UC**_

Near to the end of the summer holiday, Ronnie and Aaron were visited by Zara again in their bedroom (Aaron had finally let Ronnie sleep in the attic room with him). Aaron wore his black trainers, his cargo pants, a black shirt and a black baseball cap with the peak to the back. Ronnie wore his yellow shoes, red cargos, a bright blue shirt saying "I Am NOT Responsible", and his neon green beanie.

The last thing they remember was Zara closing the door behind her…


	2. Secrets

**I'm changing this round a bit and this is so all you who understand the medical cases in this can see how the boys get accepted. It's set at a meeting where a group decide who is suitable for the tests. Would it be the ethics committee?**

Seven people were grouped around a large table. They were discussing which candidates were suitable to be taken for CHERUB entry tests. Zara was there, along with Meryl Spencer and John Jones. The others included a tall ginger-haired man with a large handlebar moustache, a short rotund male who was completely bald yet had a permanent smile on his face, and a kind looking female with gentle features.

Zara got to her feet and started talking. "finally, we have a slightly awkward situation. A set of twins have come to our attention. They look perfect for the job. As well as being identical, they are small and look fairly young. They also have excellent verbal skills. But, the only problem is, the have significant medical problems." She placed a file on the desk.

"the oldest of the two has AS and ADD, and the younger has dyslexia and suspected ADHD. What we need to do is work out whether these boys could cope and maybe slightly overcome their problems. If we accept them they will flourish under our care. What do you think?" Zara sat back down.

There was silence in the room until the tall moustached man spoke. "I think it's preposterous! How do you expect the dyslexic boy to read the mission briefings? Or change the other one's routine all the time? It wouldn't be right!"

"on the contrary," replied the kind looking lady, "I think it's a superb idea. We could have these boys in places where other agents can't be. There are support rooms in schools nowadays, and usually our young targets are outcasts needing support. Also, it would mean we aren't discriminating."

"yes, but what about-?" the tall man argued back, only to be answered by the bald guy.

"the briefings could be read out to the boys and as they have different abilities and disabilities they could pretend to be the one boy. Picture it: a boy who everyone knows to be dyslexic wouldn't be expected to find the right documents to scan or read, so we put the other boy in his place. Or the other way round: the dyslexic one can make friends and be invited to houses and sneak the other twin in to make copies and stuff. It's perfect. Of course, when it comes to routine, we could send the boys off early to "acclimatize" as it were. I say we accept them"

"but- now really! I don't think-"

John Jones spoke up. "I personally think that given the right support, they will become very useful agents and we can give them an excellent future! Now, let's vote on it. all in favour of letting them take the test, raise your hand."

Six of the group raised their hands, and guess who didn't.

"then it is agreed," John continued, "that we let them take the test, and in the event that they pass, they will be offered a place at CHERUB."

Zara stood up again. "before we finish, I think I should make it clear that we have recently found out that the twins were adopted at birth. The father was an agent who got a member of staff pregnant. The agent wasn't expelled, I'm sorry to say, because nobody could prove that it was him. I don't think we should tell the twins yet,"

"who was the agent, Zara?"

"a 15 year-old named John Collins. He lives in Australia as a diving instructor now…"

**Sorry, I just had to make it clear.**** You should all know who John Collins is and if you don't, look at Amy Collins' fact-file on the CHERUB site. Now, if I don't get reviews a new chapter won't be put up.**


	3. Tests

**HELLO!!!!!!!!!!! I got bored again and thought, "May As Well Update It Now I Started It!" So, Here's Chapter 2! Oh yeah, and I'm sorry if it's similar at the beginning to the real words in the recruit, but I'll try changing it as much as I can. I'm not in the mood for imagination.**

Ronnie woke up in a strange flashy bedroom. It was wicked! It had a TV, kettle, mini-fridge and telephone. Ronnie didn't have a clue why he was there or how he'd got there. But, he realised something. He wasn't near Aaron.

He was starting to panic now. He'd never been apart from Aaron without knowing where he was. He spotted the door on the other side of the door and ran towards it. It was then that he noticed he was naked.

"oh, shit. This cannot be good," he muttered to himself. Covering himself up, he made his way over to a chest of drawers, on top of which was a set of clean clothes: white socks and boxers, pressed orange T-shirt, green military-style trousers with zipped pockets and a pair of boots. Ronnie picked the boots up and inspected them. It didn't take a genius to work out that the rubbery smell and shiny black soles meant they were new.

Ronnie put on the underwear, socks, boots and trousers. He picked up the orange shirt to inspect the logo. It was a winged baby sitting on top of a ball that Ronnie instantly recognised as the globe. He could remember the Europe and America outlines from a book he had. In bold black letters going through the globe, were some initials. After a second, he knew they said CHERUB. Ronnie racked his brains, but the letters meant nothing to him. Pulling on the shirt as he went, Ronnie made his way out the door to try and find his twin brother.

"Aaron!?" he shouted, "AARON, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

And to his immense relief, his brother poked his head out of the door opposite the one he'd just come out of. As Ronnie rushed over to him, he realised Aaron wasn't wearing the shirt. He had everything else on, but not the shirt.

"erm, why haven't you put the shirt on? Did you not get one?" Ronnie asked.

"I did, but it -you know- draws attention…" Aaron replied. Ronnie finally twigged it. _Of course! That's why he got boring clothes. He doesn't like attention. He doesn't like talking to strange people, and bold things that stand out would make that happen._

Eventually, Ronnie managed to talk Aaron into wearing the shirt's by saying he wouldn't stand out if they wore the same thing. As Aaron pulled the shirt over his head, the two boys heard something like a school bell ring five times from somewhere below them. As they made their way out into the corridor, kids started to make their way towards them. Ronnie felt Aaron tense up beside him. Ronnie tried asking someone where he was.

"excuse me"

"Can't talk to orange,"

That was weird. He tried someone else, but the minute he opened his mouth, they just said: "can't talk to orange"

"It's the bloody shirt! No-one will talk to us with these on!" Ronnie complained. He seemed to attract the attention of what looked like a 15 year old. He was blond and wore a black shirt with the same logo, but in white. In fact, everyone was wearing a shirt with the same logo, but in different colours. There were loads of grey shirts, quite a few navy shirts, and a couple of black shirts. Everyone wore the same trousers and boots.

Anyway, this blond kid whipped out a scrap piece of paper and scribbled something on it using a pen he borrowed from the blonde girl next to him. As the pair approached, Ronnie and Aaron noticed they both had blue eyes. The boy had a stocky build, but was tall all the same, and the girl had a powerful build.

As they passed, the boy pushed the paper into Ronnie's hand. Ronnie unscrewed it, and tried reading, but it was too much. The bad handwriting made it even worse than usual and with all the confusion, the words and letters were stranger than usual. He gave the paper, instead, to Aaron, who read it out loud.

"Can't talk to orange. well, not yet. But take the lift to the first floor and go to the reception desk. J.A. See ya l8r!"

So, down the boys went to the first floor. There was a large fountain there in the shape of the logos on their CHERUB t-shirts, but in 3D. They stood in front of a desk (well, actually, they're small for their age so stood on tip-toe slightly) to ask the woman where to go.

"hi, erm, we ain't quite sure…"

"good morning Aaron, good morning Ronnie. Zara Asker would like to see you in her office.

Zara? No! It couldn't be. But how many Zaras you meet in one life, it ain't a very common name.

The woman led them down a corridor that smelt luxuriously of melted marshmallows. They reached a door and the woman knocked before striding back down towards where she originally sat.

"Enter," called that oh so familiar voice. Aaron scrunched up the paper and put it in his un-zipped pocket before pushing the door open and stepping in, closely followed by his brother. The smell of melted marshmallows was much stronger in here, and made the twins feel cosy and right at home. They were reminded of their mother when she used to cuddle them.

"welcome, boys, to the CHERUB campus!" said Zara, the very same Zara who worked at their care home. "come sit by the Fire with me,"

They all settled themselves around the roaring flames, and Aaron noticed that there was a bundle of marshmallows hidden in lots of grooves and ledges. That was where the smell was coming from.

"I'm guessing that you have no knowledge or memory of how you got here." The twins shook their heads. "well, that's because I popped a needle in your arm to help you sleep. No ill effects, I hope?"

"we feel fine. But why…"

"I'll explain in a minute. Then you can ask questions, ok? We have 280 pupils, 4 swimming pools, six indoor tennis courts, an all-weather football pitch, a gymnasium and a shooting range. We have a school on-site. Classes have ten pupils of fewer. Everyone learns at least 2 foreign languages. We have a higher proportion of students going on to the top universities than any of the leading schools. How would you feel about living here?"

"what is this place? We don't know what the hell is going on. There has to be a catch. You wouldn't just place us here out of the warmness of your own heart," it was Ronnie who asked this. But to Zara's astonishment, it was Aaron who answered.

"it's a branch of MI5," he said confidently.

"how in the world did you know that?!" asked Zara after a shocked silence.

"heard two kids earlier say something like 'you should have punched him right there and then. Who gives a shit if he's a mission controller, what are MI5 gonna do about it?' and the other kid said, 'but we're a branch of MI5, I could get into loads of trouble, and it was my fault the mission went tits up,'"

This cleared up Zara's suspicions. She should have known it would be something like that. Nevertheless, she was astounded by his attention to his surroundings. She knew they had made the right choice.

"well, that's exactly right! We noticed that you two are pretty smart, athletic and you know when things get too much. We invited you here to take some entrance tests, and if you pass, you might be offered a place here and be a secret agent, this is a one in a million opportunity- what's wrong Ronnie?" for Ronnie had hung his head.

"I can't be a secret agent. I have dyslexia. I'm too thick!"

"now, Ronnie. Did you know that some of the smartest people in the world had dyslexia. Albert Einstein for one. And I know you're interested in art. Did you know that Walt Disney had dyslexia as well?"

Ronnie shook his head. His dad had always told him that he was too dumb to amount to anything. He had said that dyslexia was something that made you thick. He had lied.

"Ronnie, dyslexia doesn't affect your knowledge. It's just the way that you read and write. The words may rearrange themselves but apart from that, you could be the smartest human being in the world. You are not thick! The same goes with you, Aaron. You may have AS but just because your social skills aren't brilliant, doesn't mean you can't be an agent. We can get you help on campus, and though we can't cure AS, we'll give a good fair go at it! Now are you ready to take the tests? No other questions?"

The twins shook their heads, they could see the benefits of children as spies and they could now see why they had been invited to take the tests.

Zara drove them across the grounds on a golf cart to a Japanese style building. Lounging outside on the grass was the blond teenager who had given them the note earlier. The mysterious J.A.

As soon as he heard the golf cart approach he stood up, brushing grass off his black shirt, which looked quite new, now they had the time to look properly. His hair flopped into his crystal blue eyes and he smiled as the twins got out of the cart to follow Zara over to this boy.

"James, these are the boys I told you about. That's Aaron, who I'll be working with. And that's Ronnie who I need you to work with. I'll tell you why I need you in a minute. Boys, this is James Adams. He's going to take Ronnie around just ahead of me and Aaron. You needn't worry, you won't be apart for long." And she led the way into the building.

"this is the dojo, which is Japanese. It's where we do combat training and that. your first test will be to spar with someone I reckon," the boy named James said to the twins.

"that's right," Zara said, "you have Bruce, same person James had when he joined. He's 14 years old but he is quite small for his age. Take your socks and shoes off here. Have either of you done martial arts before?"

The boys shook their heads.

"I didn't think so, I knew nothing to this extent. Anyway, just use your best judgement and fight any way you can. The rules are: first to get 5 submissions from their opponent is the winner. An opponent can submit by speaking or by tapping his hand on the mat. Either opponent can withdraw from the bout at any time. That means you can stop all the fighting and won't have to go again in the test. You can do anything to get a submission except hitting the testicles or eye gouging. Do you understand? Bruce knows this already."

The twins nodded. Zara decided Ronnie should go first and let him go onto the sparring mat so he could get acquainted with Bruce. Aaron was told to stay where he was for the moment. Before going in to start the fight, Zara pulled James to one side and whispered something that Aaron couldn't hear to James. She was actually saying:

"Ronnie has dyslexia, James. So when you take him to do the written test, take him to a quiet room and give him an hour instead of 45 minutes. You can read him any of the questions but there will be an examiner there so you can't give him the answers. I would let the examiner talk to him but I think you and the twins should build up a friendship, they can't trust too many people. Aaron has AS as well, and you should know what that is, so he obviously needs help with the social aspects because of the whole meeting new people thing. And I've noticed you seem really happy around these boys, what is it about them?"

James answered, also whispering, "it's Amy, they look exactly like her. Their eyes, their hair, even their face…"

Zara started talking at normal level again. "aww, you still miss her?"

James sadly nodded and ducked under Zara's arm and into the room containing Bruce and Ronnie, Zara close behind him. It was clear from the look on Ronnie's face that Bruce had been trying to psyche him out

Zara handed Ronnie a mouth piece. "ready?" the boys nodded, "fight!"

Ronnie saw Bruce advancing just in time. It was clear he wanted to get to his nose, so he turned his head and felt Bruce's palm smash into his temple. It hurt like hell and he wasn't about to let it happen again. He would try and win. Bruce rained down the punches and kicks and Ronnie dodged almost all of them. It was clear Bruce was running out of patience. He struck a well aimed heel into Ronnie's stomach and took advantage of the moment of Ronnie being unbalanced. He swept his foot underneath Ronnie, taking his feet away, before sitting on his stomach and twisting his ankle. The pain got to Ronnie.

"I submit!" he cried in pain. He got up and gingerly put wait on his foot. It wasn't too bad, he'd had worse.

"ready?" the boys nodded, "Fight!"

Before he knew it, Ronnie had lost sight of Bruce. He heard someone behind him and quickly pushed himself into a forward roll. Looking up he saw Bruce hurrying towards him, and he decided to use the move that had been against him in the first round. He spun in a circle with his foot out, causing Bruce to fall onto his stomach. Ronnie rushed forwards to start bending Bruce's ankle, but Bruce rolled over and attacked the ankle again. There was a gross popping sound as Ronnie's ankle came out of place.

"ARGH, I SUBMIT!" his jumped up again but didn't try putting wait on it. "Bring it on!" he cried.

"Ready?" the boys nodded, "Fight!"

Bruce charged Ronnie down and grabbed his foot again. "I'm gonna break it this time!" and he started bending the shin.

"I withdraw!" Ronnie was disgusted with himself. He knew he hadn't passed. Meanwhile, Zara was on the phone.

"ok," she said, hanging up, "you have to take him to do his fear test, now. Then lunch, you can put the academic test last when I do Aaron's fear test. He needs that ankle looked at. Don't tell him till you get there, though. He's terrified of doctors."

As James and Ronnie picked up their shoes and left through a different door, Zara called Aaron in. He shook hands with Bruce and Bruce whispered something in his ear. Zara thought he'd look scared, but he actually wore a look that could kill.

"ready?" the boys nodded, "fight!"

Bruce charged, but Aaron ducked and tripped him up. Then he pounced as Bruce turned himself over, and started raining blows hard into his face. Images of his father on that night pounded through his own head.

"You-hurt-my-brother-I-kill-you!"

"I Submit!" Aaron stopped straight away.

"ready?" the boys nodded, "fight!"

Bruce took Aaron down with the same move as he did with Ronnie. Foot to stomach, foot swept underneath. When Aaron hit the floor, Bruce got him in a headlock and started pulling his head back. Aaron was sure his neck would break. He tapped the mat. Bruce let go.

"ready?" the boys nodded, "fight!"

Bruce did the same move again, but this time, as he tried getting Aaron in a headlock, he found two small fingers in his nostrils pulling his head forwards. Aaron jerked his knee back and felt the thunk of nose to knee. As Bruce pulled his hands up to his nose, Aaron noticed he'd drawn blood. But Bruce didn't submit, he grabbed Aaron by the shirt scruff and landed a painful punch in his stomach.

"withdraw or I crack ribs!" Bruce cried, blood flying everywhere. Aaron thought he already had broken ribs and was horrified to hear that it could get worse.

"ok," he wheezed, "I withdraw!" he, like his brother felt so disappointed with himself. Zara collected his shoes and socks and he put them on in the golf cart as they made their way to the main building.

_Meanwhile_, James had carried Ronnie towards what looked like a classroom. Before entering, James put a blindfold onto Ronnie. After setting him onto a table he removed the blindfold. As soon as he saw the man in the white clothes he knew it was a doctor.

"NO NO NO N- OUCH!" Ronnie had tried to jump off the table and run but his extremely painful ankle had stopped him running. James put him back on the table and whispered something to him.

"before you try and run I want you to think about your dad. I know he told you about doctors, but he lied about dyslexia to you, or so I'm told. And if you don't let this happen, I'll have to do it, and I'm not an expert…"

Ronnie realised he would have to let it happen, even if he was petrified. He nodded and the doctor came forward to gently inspect the foot. He noted things on a clipboard before saying:

"right, I'll pop it into its joint again, then I'll put it into a brace. You'll be able to put a lot more weight on it then! It'll be very painful at first,"

Ronnie nodded and closed his eyes. He felt the doctor quickly thrust it back to where it should be. _Well, he's no liar there! That was brutal! _Ronnie thought. As the doctor strapped the metal splints into place with the brace, Ronnie found that this made it feel much better, and he hadn't even put weight on it yet! He stood up gingerly and only felt a twinge of pain and the need to limp almost completely removed.

"you'll need to keep that for about 3 weeks. You can take it off for baths and showers but it's very easy to put back on!"

Ronnie left the doctor with a big smile. By no account had he completely lost his fear of doctors and hospitals, but he had taken the first step. He headed of to eat his lunch and meet with his brother.

While Ronnie had been facing his fear, Aaron had had to do an intelligence exam, a mixture of verbal and mathematical skills. He'd had 45 minutes, but the pain in his chest had slowed him down. He finished the last question just in time. He'd always hated pressure, and he'd never been put under that amount of strain before. He felt he'd done badly on both tests. He met his brother for lunch, but neither of them were allowed to tell each other what they'd done or how they'd done it. James had taken them around the canteen but they weren't allowed to sit with his usual friends because of the _can't talk to orange _rule.

"after lunch I have to take you to Zara's office, Aaron," James said with a slightly grim expression, "you have to do my least favourite test,"

"what about me?" Ronnie asked.

"oh, I'm taking you outside, to my favourite test. Well, I can't say I like any of them, but this one is probably the best one…"

After dropping Aaron of at Zara's office, James took Ronnie down to an obstacle course. But not any obstacle course, it was 20 metres high on the highest point and there were no safety nets. Two other teenagers were waiting at the bottom of the rope ladder.

"hey, guys. This is Ronnie. Ronnie, this is Rat," he pointed to a tall boy with dark hair and green eyes who looked nothing like a rat, "and this is Kyle," he pointed to the other boy who looked slightly older. This boy had bleached hair and an earring in one ear. "the trick, Ronnie, is not to look down," James was whispering.

Though he needed a lot of encouragement, Ronnie didn't speak at all when he was on the course. This was mainly due to the fact that he was going to puke if he opened his mouth.

Up the ladder; slide across a pole; jump a metre gap between two planks; climb ladder; along a few more planks; across a 1 ½ metre gap; and then jump off the 20 metre ledge to get down. Once he hit the crash mat he felt amazing, though he was breathing as though he had just run a marathon.

James checked Ronnie's ankle before confirming he was fine and started taking him to Zara's office, where Zara and Aaron were leaving. Aaron was feeling confused and slightly upset, but didn't show it.

Because, as Ronnie was taking the obstacle course, Aaron was being asked to kill a chicken.

"do you like chicken, Aaron?"

"I'm a vegetarian. I don't believe in killing one thing for stupid pointless reasons. There are plenty of other ways to get food,"

Zara was slightly taken aback, "but if I was to tell you that someone else was going to kill it anyway, perhaps even your brother, what would you do then?"

"if my brother was going to kill it anyway, why would I kill this one? All that would happen is that you'd get another chicken, which means more get killed in the long-run. I'm sorry, but I don't care if I fail this. I'm not doing it. No,"

They passed James and Ronnie on the way down to the course, and Ronnie was looking very happy about something.

They reached the course and Aaron took his time contemplating it, before refusing yet again. When asked why, he replied with all the danger risks.

"there are no safety nets. And I know that those two will help me, but I don't know them and I could freak out up there and fall. I know my limits and I'm not going to risk this."

In Zara's office Ronnie was facing the same deal with the chicken.

"so, will you kill the chicken?"

"yes I will, but I'll tell you why. If I don't kill it, then it'll be kept in that cage, waiting to be killed by someone else and I can't hang with that. I'm not doing it because I want to, I'm doing it because I'll put it out of its misery. Now, how do you kill it?"

5 minutes later Ronnie was sitting in a classroom with an examiner and James. He was doing an exam and he felt it was going well. James was reading the questions and was trying his best to write neatly for Ronnie's sake. At the end of the hour, they had finished and double checked it.

Meanwhile, Aaron was, yet again, refusing. This time he had to sit in a police car, sirens blaring, while the police interrogated him. His fear of police was too strong. He refused point blank to get in the squad car.

_Zara's Office_

James was allowed to stay while Zara gave the verdict.

"you both did very well on the first test. No-one expected you to win or get any punches in. Ronnie, you withdrew when threatened a serious injury. You get a high pass. Aaron, you got a few hits in, therefore you get a slightly higher pass. On the fear test, Ronnie you went through with it, and you didn't falter in the middle. Another high pass. Aaron, you knew you wouldn't cope with the police, so you refused. You get the same pass as Aaron. On the obstacle test, Aaron, you knew the dangers with your condition and made a wise decision. Ronnie, you went through with it and completed, even though you needed encouragement, you get a slightly higher pass. The chicken test. Ronnie, you knew what would have happened so you knew what would be the best decision. You didn't falter or get upset. Highest pass there. Aaron, even though you refused you stuck to your beliefs and didn't let me bully you into it. Highest pass there as well. As for the academic test, you both received top marks, the highest ever at CHERUB. Therefore I am extremely delighted to offer you both a place at CHERUB. I'll drive you back to the care home, and give you a couple of days to think, but I sincerely hope you'll accept. You two will be excellent additions.

Aaron and Ronnie were dumb-founded, they stared at each other in shocked, and then they realised they were thinking of the same response. Can you guess what it is yet?

**Wow! That's the longest chapter I've ever written! Took me all night. Its**** 03:38am if you're bothered! What's worse, my computer keeps trying to restart itself! Bloody thing! Please review! I didn't write all night for nothing. Oh, yeah. Sorry for that little impression of Ralph Harris there at the end.**


	4. Acceptance

**Ok, I'm timing myself tonight. Its 22:18****pm on the fourth of April now, so how long will it take to write a 5 page or whatever chapter? My message at the end will reveal all! Oh, and enjoy!**

Aaron woke up groggily in the backseat of Zara's car. They were heading down a motorway; he didn't know where. Seeing Aaron was awake, Zara pulled over in a lay-by, before walking round and opening the back door for Aaron.

"Here, stretch your legs a bit. You probably will feel a little groggy. You hop into the front seat, ok?"

Aaron nodded, climbed into the front seat, and settled down as Zara switched on the radio at a low volume.

"Well, Aaron. You've had a busy couple of days, eh? Right, we need to think of a reason as to why you boys were gone for as long as you were. Shall we say I took you for a day out, as a treat?"

"I suppose, but won't they be angry that you didn't tell anyone?"

"We'll sort that," and as she said this she pulled over again, reached for her mobile and dialled a number. "hey, there… fine, but listen, you need to write a note saying I took the twins to London for the day… oh, you know my signature… well find it then and forge it… put it in the head care worker's pigeon hole… thanks…bye," she hung up, "Sorted!"

All the talking had woken Ronnie up, so Zara let him out to stretch his legs, before taking off back down the motorway.

"I'm glad you both accepted. Of course, after basic training you'll need some support before you can go on missions, especially you, Aaron. When you go on missions you have to talk to people you don't know, so you'll be meeting people all the time. We have to make sure you're completely ready before we send you off. Anyway, I'm sure you noticed all the different shirts,"

Aaron and Ronnie nodded, they were glad to find out the significance of these shirts; they had forgotten to ask earlier on.

"Well, orange is for guests and you need clearance from me to talk to someone wearing an orange shirt. Next is red. You two will have to wear red shirts from when you arrive, because red means you're under ten and not yet qualified for missions. There is supposed to be a junior block for red shirts but we are placing you in the main building, because there's no point in settling in and then having to move after your birthday in 3 weeks. Once you reach 10 years old, you wear a blue shirt for a few weeks until your basic training starts. Once you pass basic training, you get a grey shirt, which means you're qualified for missions. Outstanding performance on a single mission earns a navy shirt, whilst black shirts mean outstanding performance on more than one. Once you retire, you get the white shirt,"

Aaron and Ronnie took a few minutes to digest all this information.

"When are we going back? How long do we have to wait?" Ronnie piped up.

"We leave the day after tomorrow. The other agents who helped recruit you need to pack their stuff, and so do you," Zara replied. "I suggest you go straight to bed when we get in, because you're obviously tired still, and then tomorrow you can set out something to wear for when we leave, and start packing your stuff. School started today, but you won't need to go there, obviously. Make sure you pack absolutely everything…"

It was not hard to pack their suitcases. This was due to the fact that they barely left the room, so their belongings hadn't moved either. Ronnie was un-tacking his drawings from the wall and put them carefully into a folder along with his art supplies, whereas Aaron was retrieving the song lyrics he'd been copying out over the holidays, and pulled down his pictures of instruments he had been hoping to buy. On the day they were set to leave they woke with nervous excitement, and jumped when Callum and Connor entered the room, massive smiles on their faces.

"So, what time are we leaving? That's right," Connor said as an astounded face worn by Ronnie came up from the neck of his "Day Release Prisoner #1358" shirt, "we're cherubs! The very cherubs who helped recruit you two,"

Ronnie was astounded, but Aaron knew that it must have been the other set of twins, as they were the only other kids that either Ronnie or he had gone near. He pulled on his army jacket over his dark green shirt, and did up the laces on his navy basketball shoes. As Ronnie slipped on his favourite yellow basketball shoes, Zara knocked and entered.

"Time to go lads! I won't need to make you sleep today; the car will probably sort that for me. Callum, Connor, could you put the boys' suitcases in my car-boot, I need a word with these two."

As Callum and Connor left, Zara sat in the very same chair she had sat in on the twins' first day.

"Now, I just wanted to say, that even though you will have a handler, if either of you wants to talk for any reason at all, you'll find me in my office. I put you two in rooms on the top floor, and I moved James up to the top floor as well, so you can always talk to him. He also agreed to help with your cross-country along with Callum and Connor. There is something else, though. You'll be asked to change your name when you get there, and it'll have to be the same last name. So, get thinking and agree to a last name. You can change your first name if you want…"

However later it was, the boys did not know, but they were sitting in another office in front of a muscular woman. She looked very kind, but she also looked as though she was not a person to cross.

"So, have you decided yet? I need your decision on a name, and then I can give you your red shirts," the woman was saying. Her name was Meryl Spencer.

The boys had had a long discussion in the car about what was to be their second name. They had finally decided after seeing one of Ronnie pictures flutter to the floor out of his folder.

"Phoenix is going to be our last name," Ronnie said, promptly. "And I really want my first name to be Tucker-Maxii. Tucker for short. And my middle name to be Aaron," he looked at his brother and smiled, "Tucker-Maxii Aaron Phoenix,"

"Right," said Meryl, writing it down, "and you, Aaron? What about your name?"

"Erm, Hunter. And my middle name to be Ronnie," he gave his brother a small smile, much like the one he had received, "I want another middle name, Michael. Hunter Ronnie Michael Phoenix."

Meryl nodded and passed over two cellophane wrapped t-shirts. They were red. She nodded at the door as an indication that they could leave.

"Oh, before I forget." She added, quickly, as Hunter pulled the door open. "Ask James to take you down to the physical centre, you need to get an assessment so we can get your muscles and stamina built up.

James answered the door to his room and saw the twins on the threshold.

"Hey, you guys. What are your names now then?" asked James, referring to the change every cherub takes.

"I'm Hunter Ronnie Michael Phoenix. Call me Hunter," said the twin on the left who had recently been Aaron.

"And I'm Tucker-Maxii Aaron Phoenix. Call me Tucker," said the twin on the right, previously named Ronnie.

"Ok, so what's up?" James asked.

"We need you to take us to the physical assessment to get assessed. Something about stamina and stuff like that," Ronnie explained.

"Oh," replied James with a smile, "ok, let me put my shirt on."

And he did. After he got his cherub stuff on, he led the way to a fitness suite, where a physical examiner was waiting for them.

Tucker found running on the treadmill easy, he had a burst of energy and it wasn't about to leave him. The examiner was very impressed with Tucker, especially when looking at the results, but he seemed to notice that as he was explaining something, Tucker didn't seem to be paying attention. He thought this rather odd and had a sudden idea. He started a couple of tests on Tucker, and found the result he was looking for. He knew Hunter had Attention Deficit Disorder and noticed things when he should have been paying attention to something else, but Tucker was a little different.

"I'm afraid, Tucker, that you have a mild form of ADHD. That stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It means you struggle a little with paying attention, and you have a bit more energy than you should have. As it's so mild it shouldn't be a problem, but it'll go on your medical record. I'll tell you what, though. You'll make an excellent cross country runner.

Hunter, you obviously have ADD which, as I'm sure you know, will affect how you pay attention but we can sort you out with missions. You two will be fine agents. But you didn't fair as well and Tucker on the treadmill. The first half you showed real energy, but then you started to falter. You should be a great sprinter, I reckon.

Right, your fitness plans. I want both of you in the weight-lifting room every day. 2 hours a day. Work on your upper body and abdominals. Start with small weights and work your way up. By basic training you'll be strong as an ox. As for your legs, keep up the running. I suggest 15 laps of the track every night for five days. You have no time limit. If you want you can bump up the number or carry on after a week. I suggest you stick with running, because you both have an aptitude for it. Off you two go, now."

The man smiled as he ushered the pair out to where James was waiting. After telling him their plans, James recommended getting the laps over with. On the way to the track, James had shocking news for Tucker.

"You do know that that man was a doctor, don't you?" he remarked with a smile.

Tucker didn't know what to say. He was slightly scared that he'd been so close to a doctor, but he was a tiny bit upset that no-one had told him. The emotions that rode over these more than anything was happiness and pride.

Once at the track, James advised the boys to take things slowly. Walk the first two laps and sprint the last. That was how he'd learnt. After a while they'd be able to pull up the number of laps to run.

After the running, it was agreed to go to the weights room and get started. They spent just over two hours in there before Hunter complained about how much they stank.

The three boys went up to their rooms and took showers, before going to grab some dinner. Hunter was curious about something, though.

"James,"

"Yeah, Hunter?"

"How did you get your black shirt?"

"Good question," James laughed, "Well, my first mission was stopping a terrorist act, and I got my navy for that. Then I was on a drugs mission, and then it was something to do with busting a kid out of a maximum security prison in Arizona so he'd lead us to his mum who was an illegal arms dealer. My sister was on that as well and she got her navy shirt then, and I got a medal from the US president for that. After that I had to have a small mission, 'cause I got into a little fight with someone. Anyway, that turned out to be a murder investigation, and it had only started as working out how this guy got loads of money. About a year back I went to Australia with my sister and this girl who's now my girlfriend. That was finding out something about a religious cult which ended up as another terrorist thing. Well, the place we were at actually blew up, that was where Rat came from. You met Rat. My sister got her black shirt then which was totally unfair. After that I had a mission to do with animal rights activists who were hurting people who worked in animal labs. My sister came with me there, too. I still didn't have my black shirt. Recently I was on a mission in Russia and the agents I was working with got killed, and I had to get out of Russia alive. When I did get out there was a big thing about the people who got killed, and I was suspended from missions. I thought my mission controller was against me and trying to get me kicked out of CHERUB so I followed him. In the end, I was there to save his life. His name is Ewart Asker, Zara's husband. Zara gave me and my girlfriend the black shirt for saving him."

The twins were staring at James with their mouths hanging open. Maybe they'd let themselves into something much more complicated than rolling around on the floor undetected.

James sorted the food and led the way over to his usual table.

"Right," he started introducing everyone, "the girl who just got up and stormed off was my ex, you know the twins, and Bruce, and Kyle, and Rat. This is Dana, my girlfriend." The girl that the boys saw James with on their first day waved from across the table, "that's my sister Lauren," a girl who looked remarkably like James waved from down the table. "The Egyptian kid down there is Shak. And that's us!"

Hunter and Tucker felt so privileged to have so many friends already, and to be accepted by everyone so quickly. It was like their whole life had picked itself up, and was going in the right direction.

**01:27 am 5****th**** April. WOOP! I did it in 3 hours and 9 minutes! Please review and I promise the next chapter will be longer! My computer (I named him Old Grey) loves you if you Review! Oh, by the way. The story was 5 pages, with this note starting a 6****th**** page. 8D**


	5. Dreams

**WOOP WOOP! Chapter ****5 at your service! Before I start, this story is set after "The Fall", at the end of 2007. At the beginning of the story I wrote about James having a new black shirt, but that was to express that he had just got his black shirt from in "The Fall". ARGH, SO CONFUSING! I would like to thank the following for your reviews on Universal Connection: RixxiSpooks, punch bag, footie grl, cookie36, RixxiSpooks (Again!), CherubChick92, cookie36 (Again!), mad-sugar-but-sweet, CherubChick92 (Again!), mad-sugar-but-sweet (Again!). I would also like to recommend Trixie's CHERUB Adventure (Written By cookie36) and also Pixies and Penguins (Written By mad-sugar-but-sweet) and also Four's Company (Written by RixxiSpooks) oh and footie grl's story Second Chance is pretty awesome too. (Sorry, I just love reading these stories and I feel that everyone should hear them too! (OMG did I say hear? I meant taste!))**

It was weird. Hunter moved his hands around to find his way, the problem was, he couldn't get his hands any further than ten centimetres out in front of him before they touched a cool smooth surface. He ran his hands up and down. The wall arched closely over him and underneath him. He was lying in the foetal position and he couldn't move. He was then astutely aware of "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville" by My Chemical Romance" being played on the other side of his all-round wall.

All of a sudden he heard a scream; it wasn't stopping. After a second he was dreadfully aware of whom the scream was coming from. Tucker. Hunter started to panic; he needed to find Tucker. Pushing and pushing against the wall, he found it wouldn't budge. _It's an egg, _he thought, _I'm in an egg._

This was certainly the weirdest sensation he'd ever felt, but he shouldn't worry about that; he needed Tucker! He carried on with his efforts to push. Then, as the closing lyrics of "Early Sunsets…" washed over him, he felt new strength to push.

"Does anyone notice," Gerard Way sang, as he pushed harder, using his feet and head, "there's a corpse in this bed…?" he broke free.

Hunter woke with a jolt. That had been the weirdest dream he'd ever had. He realised he didn't need to find Tucker; it had been himself doing the screaming. Before he forgot the dream, he decided to write it in a little notebook. Once he'd finished he climbed out of bed, pulled on his red CHERUB shirt and olive coloured trousers followed by his unlaced boots, and made his way over to his computer. He'd left it on the previous night, as he'd been trying to complete a history essay on the Russian Revolution and had been too tired to log off. Hunter opened his iTunes window and then his LimeWire window, intending to download the song he had just heard in his dream. He remembered it being played by James sister, Lauren, a couple of days ago, but hadn't thought of it till now.

"Successfully Downloaded" a computer pop-up informed him. Hunter copied the file into his empty iTunes folder and changed the setting to "Repeat One". He listened to this song as he did up his boots. Then he made his way to his calendar. He crossed out the previous day's date and looked at today, Tuesday 18th September. It was directly above a square that had a massive green circle around it.

_7 days, just 7 days. _He thought, with a slight leaping sensation around his midriff. Looking at the clock, he saw it was 4:30am, which was probably the reason there was hardly any light outside.

He stopped the song playing and made his way down to the track, where he noticed a couple of older cherubs keeping in shape. Hunter suddenly recognized the outline of one of the boys wearing a black CHERUB shirt; it looked like James had gone for a run as well.

He waited for James to get to the bend where he was waiting, before setting off next to him.

"Hi there, Hunter! What are you doing up so early?"

"Oh, I had a nightmare and I got bored because I couldn't get back to sleep so I fancied a run. I should really be doing my history essay."

"Yeah, I know what it's like to avoid homework, buddy! Tucker still in bed?"

"Yeah, I think so. Listen, James. I just wanted to say thanks, for everything. You helped me and Tucker settle in just fine and it feels great to have a friend like you."

"Oh, Hunter, don't! You're making me blush! Oh, how many days now until- "

"7 days. I can't wait. I've never had a birthday party or any friends to have one with. I think it'll be great to have a little get-together in my room,"

James got a little quiet after that, but Hunter didn't notice, he was too busy thinking about how he good his birthday would be in 7 days.

As it started to get light, James made his way back to his room to have a shower, but Hunter stayed on the track. He kept running until about 7am, when he decided to go back to his room for a shower and to conclude his history essay.

When he reached his floor, he saw James emerge from his own room with slightly tousled hair, as if it had just been towel-dried. Hunter could hear the shower running in his twin brother's room, so he quickly jumped into his own. He noticed he was running slightly low on his Mint Essential shampoo and conditioner** (NB: I don't know if boys usually use conditioner but for this story, the boys do. I think they should if they don't. Lovely smooth hair for running fingers through… ERM, I MEAN, ERRR, READ!)**. He didn't even know why he used the stuff, because it was so strong that he couldn't open his eyes when the bottle was open, the fumes were so strong! Anyways, he decided he had to get some more stuff, so made a mental note to ask James to take him and Tucker into town, soon.

Upon finishing his shower, Hunter put a fresh red CHERUB shirt and trousers on, as the garments he'd been wearing on his run were sticky with sweat. After quickly scrubbing a towel on his head to dry his hair, Hunter decided to sit down at his computer to finish that conclusion. A quick glance at the clock told him it was 8 o'clock. He had an hour till the red shirt lessons started, but he was doing very high level lessons for his age, so it took him longer than any of his work did when he was still Aaron Bracka.

5 knocks in rapid succession announced the arrival of Tucker.

"Come in, it's open,"

And Tucker made his way through the door, and flopped onto Hunter's hurriedly made bed.

"Have you still not finished that? I did mine last night," Tucker boasted, jokingly.

"Who helped you with it?" asked Hunter, referring to the help Tucker got when writing his longer essays.

"Connor helped me last night, Callum had a dodgy curry last night, upset stomach apparently," Tucker laughed slightly.

"And, finished!" announced Hunter, and hit the print button to get his essay off the computer. Once it printed, he placed it neatly into a light blue translucent folder. "I went for a run this morning. But I'll still go out again later. It's just that I had a strange dream where I was in this egg…" and he told his twin about the dream and the song. When he had finished, Tucker wore a strange expression, as though he was working out what the dream meant, whilst still being confused and dumb-founded at the same time.

"Well, I think it was you in an egg because we came here and it's like we were reborn into a different life. But I don't get the bit with the music. Oh, and you know that kid Kyle? He said he's gonna teach me some tricks on his skateboard! You wanna try it?"

"No, I don't like those things; I prefer music and stuff to sport. I mean, I like running and that coz it's you against everyone, but I suppose skateboarding is very solitary, too. But, I'm not very coordinated, so no thanks,"

"Oh, ok. It's getting close to lesson time. I brought you some fruit up for breakfast, I know you don't eat breakfast all that much, but I couldn't to think of you going without another meal," Tucker said in a fake dramatic voice, looking at Hunter with fake concern showing through his vivid green eyes, causing Hunter to throw his history text book at him.

"Oi, Butterfingers! That could have hit me!"

_Later That Day, 3 o'clock:_

Hunter and Tucker were running round the track (Hunter for the second time that day), talking about their birthday. They had just been let out of lessons and had dropped their bags and books at their rooms.

"What do you think we're gonna get?" pondered Tucker.

"I dunno, people haven't known us long enough to really know what presents we'd like, have they?"

"No, I suppose not. Oh, I just remembered we have to do that maths A-level stuff; we may need James to help us. And I need to do my reading, you have to do science coursework, then we both have new essays for English, history, geography, and the question sheet for Philosophy."

"How comes you don't have to do science coursework?" Hunter asked jealously.

Tucker smiled, "The teacher says I have too much to cope with, but I'm still going to do it; I'm not thick," Tucker finished, his jaw set.

Hunter gave an encouraging smile, "That's the spirit, Tucker, that's the spirit!"

Both boys spent most of the night in James' room, with James helping Tucker read the stuff and correct his errors, and checking through both of their maths. After a long night with only two essays out of the previous mountain still unfinished, all three boys retired to bed; they still had to get up at 6:30 next morning for a combat training session.

_19__th__ September (Next Morning)_

Once again, Hunter woke with a start. This time he'd been trapped inside a massive bubble and had been struggling to pop it from the outside. He glanced at the clock and, seeing it was the same time as he'd got up the previous morning, he pulled on his CHERUB uniform again and went to **(NB: MADE UP SITE!) **and typed in the lyrics of the song he'd heard in his latest dream. This time it was a song he'd never heard of, but he was sure it was by the same band as last time, it sounded like the same singer.

"Results for: Well never again and never again they gave us two shots to the back of the head and we're all dead now.

1 of 1

1: My Chemical Romance – I Never Told You What I Do For A Living"

Hunter found this song on LimeWire and downloaded it, before going through the same process as yesterday. He did his boots up, crossed of the previous day on his calendar, paused the song, and set off for a short run. As he had combat training, Hunter decided to cut his run to about 2 hours, and at 6 o'clock he made his way to the dojo, where he jogged on the spot waiting for James and Tucker to show up.

The early morning combat session contained nothing exciting, if you could call James, slipping on the mat on the way through the door and ended up going arse-over-tit, uneventful. After their quick showers and a stab at the essays that had to be finished, all three boys set off for a day where they would be given no homework, and have a chance to get up to speed with what was currently happening. Another run for the twins, and then they set off for the weights room.

Both boys had gone up five weights on each machine since they started. The muscles on their arms, which had recently been non-existent, had crept up so gradually that the twins hadn't noticed. As they had been running so much, their stamina had shot up and the strength in their legs was much higher than any other cherubs their age.

It took them only 2 extra hours that night to finish of their essays. Taking advantage of the extra time, Hunter got into bed much earlier than he would have done, having lost way too much sleep over the previous two nights; he was sure that he would have another of those dreams tonight…

**I'm cutting the chapter into three short chapters, now. It's just to make things easier to load. So, off you hop to the next chapter, tiddly-winks.**


	6. Medication

**Here's the next part of that chapter, continued. You'll probably be confused if you've read before so I suggest you read again to get the gist of this.**

"_Pull the plug…_

_Well I'd like to learn your name"_

It was soft here, like a massive cushion. Hunter liked this; he was slowly sinking in to this large comfortable pillow. Too far. He couldn't get out, it was smothering him; he was trapped. He was going to die.

"_When holding on…_

_And I hope you do the same._

_Awww, sugar…"_

Hunter's eyes snapped open. His quilt was wrapped tightly around him, covering his nose and mouth. That was the reason he couldn't breathe.

This time the song was weird; it had been sung in a sort of high voice, but Hunter was certain that it was the same guy who sang the previous two songs. He looked at the clock.

It was 4:30 again. Hunter was starting to get fed up with these dreams; they were stopping his valuable sleep. At the same time, he liked the songs that were being played in his subconscious mind. He was sure he'd never heard them, yet they actually existed in the real world. Maybe he had heard them when he was younger, and they had got stuck in that space at the back of his mind. He suddenly had an idea.

"_Lauren!_" he spoke out loud. Of course, Lauren. She knew loads about music; Hunter remembered that the song in that first weird dream was one that he'd heard in her room. He decided to ask her.

He was actually half way towards the door, when the reality of what he was going to do hit him.

4:30 in the morning, 9 year-old rushing to her door, wearing his pyjamas, because he wants to know about a song he'd dreamt of.

"Ok, maybe I should get dressed first," the reasonable part of Hunter's mind spoke. He climbed into the shower, using that Mint Essential stuff which mucked up his eyesight. Today, he chose a clean CHERUB shirt from his set of drawers, clean socks and underwear, clean trousers, and he sprayed "Shoo-Fresh!" into his boots before putting them on. He then concentrated on his hair. He dried it out and combed it so that it fell into his eyes with a casual elegance that only a few people can achieve, but didn't let it look too neat. Hunter and Tucker had both been growing their hair to look like James', as they liked the look from the first moment they saw him, and decided to make James their sort of role model. Only with the looks and brains though; they didn't much fancy a chav lifestyle!

Hunter looked at the clock again: 5:45am. He'd give it 45 minutes. In the meantime he browsed the internet looking for good games…

_**6:30am**_

Hunter quickly logged off the internet and made his way down the corridor, to where he knew Lauren lived. He gave a quick knock on the door; and it opened a few seconds later. Lauren stood in the doorway, wide awake and fully clothed.

"Hey, Hunter! What are you doing up so early?" Lauren asked.

"I needed to ask you something about these dreams I've had. I've been up since half four,"

"Oh Ok, ask whatever. I'll see if I can help…"

So Hunter told her. He said about the three different songs, and that he's only recognised one of them. He told Lauren about how he thought she could help him because she knew about the music, and asked, as an afterthought, why she thought he knew these songs without having listened to them.

"Well, come in…" Hunter stepped into Lauren's room and glanced around. He'd been in here before, which was how he'd heard the first song. The posters of bands like Green Day and Panic! At The Disco contained the different members wearing their make-up, staring into the room. A certain poster caught his eye. 5 men in their late 20s or early 30s were grouped together in front of a large white back-drop. The one at the front had black hair that went to his shoulders. Next to him and slightly behind was someone who could have been the first guy's brother, although they weren't completely identical. He wore large leather clumpy boots, rectangular thick rimmed glasses, and a jacket with a high collar, like a vampire. On the front guy's other side, was a slightly short and young looking man. He had a tattoo of a scorpion on his neck. Behind him was a Puerto Rican guy with an afro of frizzy hair. On the opposite back space was a man slightly older than everyone else, with a blond beard and head of hair.

"That's My Chemical Romance. It's what they looked like when their second album was being distributed. They look totally different now. That guy at the front is Gerard Way, and the guy with the glasses is his brother, Mikey. The one with the tattoo is Frank Iero, the one with all the hair is Ray Toro, and the last one is the drummer, Bob Bryar," Lauren had noticed Hunter looking at the poster, "That's who sings those songs you told me about,"

She walked over to her bedside cabinet and got out a notebook that appeared to be empty.

"every time you hear a song you don't recognise in you dream, write the words you hear in this book. Then, if you come up and see me whenever you get the chance, then I can tell you what songs they are, and I'll let you have a little listen. I'm guessing, since all the songs you are hearing came from 3 or more years back, that you must have heard these when you were much younger; maybe on the radio, in the background music when you went shopping, maybe your parents listened. It could even have been from a passing car. If you want these dreams to stop, you let me know and we'll go and see Zara, she'll take you to get some sleeping pills from the doctor. Ok?"

Hunter took the book and nodded. He was happy now that he had an idea of where these songs came from.

_**Lunchtime**_

"Hey, Hunter! Want a crisp?" Bruce asked.

It was lunchtime, and the twins were sitting with their group of friends that James had introduced them to. Hunter accepted the offer and took a crisp, listening to, but not joining in with, the conversation.

"So, did Kerry seem angry?" James asked Lauren.

"Who's Kerry?" Tucker butted in.

"oh, yeah, I never told you her name. Kerry's my ex, the one who keeps storming off when I come near." James answered with a small guilty smile.

"and why would she be angry?"

"oh, well, ages ago, just after me and Dana got together, Kerry got angry with Dana and started calling her a bitch and that, and then started throwing food. In the end there was a massive food-fight, and I was really the cause. It was pretty cool, because even though I was the reason, Kerry got into so much trouble!"

Tucker grinned, "and you think she'll be angry because of that joke Lauren made about her starting a food-fight because of getting a lower grade in history than you?" he asked, referring to a comment made earlier.

"ye- Hunter? HUNTER!? Oh my god! WHAT'S WRONG?!" James cried, for Hunter had started choking; his throat had closed up and he couldn't breathe.

"he must have had something with nuts in it! We're allergic!" Tucker shouted, close to tears, "Bruce you bloody stupid idiot, those crisps have nut traces! SOMEONE HELP MY BROTHER!"

The canteen was filled with qualified first-aiders, but no-one was quite sure what to do. Hunter felt his consciousness slipping; everything was all blurred. Then it all went black.

_**Later**_

"Hunter? Hunter can you hear me?" Zara was speaking to him.

"what happened?" Hunter asked, opening his eyes and seeing Tucker asleep in the chair next to him and Zara looking at himself with a worried expression. "how did it stop?"

"someone found me and told me, and I had to give you an epinephrine injection. I was slightly wary of giving it to you, as it may have interfered with your medication, but it seems fine. The only problem is, you and Tucker should have an epi-pen, in case that happened. We overlooked that fact and it was the first thing we should have made sure you had, but we didn't, and we're sorry. You have got an epi-pen now, though. Tucker faced his fear again and went to see the doctor, so that you would be prescribed with a pen and know the right dosage." Zara explained.

Hunter looked around and saw he was in the medical unit, and looked over at his sleeping twin. He realised how hard it must have been for Tucker, and felt a worm rush of gratitude towards him. Tucker was looking extremely pale.

"how long do I have to stay here?" Hunter asked, looking back over at Zara.

"well, you've been here since yesterday lunchtime, so it's Friday now, but you have to stay until tomorrow because they need to make sure you're completely better. Especially if it's you birthday in four days!" Zara said.

"what time is it?" asked Hunter with a slight smile.

"well, actually its midnight. so I had better take Tucker back up to bed. I left some sleeping tablets for you there, because Lauren told me about your dreams and I thought you should have at least one or two nights proper sleep." And with that she got up, edged round the bed to Tucker, and picked him up. "I suggest you try and get to sleep, you have a long weekend." She said, as she carried Tucker out the door, out the building, into the main building and up to Tucker's room.

As Hunter took the sleeping tablets and floated into a dreamless sleep, Zara used Tucker's key to unlock his bedroom door, pulled back the covers on his bed, lay him down, took his boots off, and pulled the covers over him. Then she left the room, softly shutting the door behind her.

_**The next morning…**_

Tucker woke up the next morning, still wearing his CHERUB uniform, except his boots were off. He tried to remember last night. All he could think of was sitting at his brother's bedside, talking to Zara. He must have fallen asleep there and Zara must have brought him to his room.

"Hold on, Hunter's bedside? Hunter… he's in the medical unit! I completely forgot!" Tucker gasped, as he pulled on his boots which were lying next to his bed, and raced towards the medical unit.

As he reached the main entrance he hesitated; doctors and hospitals still made him sick to his stomach. But, he had to go in there, his brother was in there. With a deep breath, he entered through the double doors and made his way to the room where he knew Hunter was staying.

As he entered the room he found Hunter sitting on the side of the bed, wearing his full uniform. Zara was sitting next to him and there was a doctor talking to him. Tucker hesitated, but then he saw it was the doctor from his fear test; the one that had given him the very splint he was still wearing.

As he thought this, Hunter noticed him.

"Tucker!" he cried happily, and he grinned as he jumped down from the bed and raced towards his brother. Tucker was also grinning as he pulled his big brother into a hug, happy he was not alone.

"why, hello Tucker! I haven't seen you in a while. How's the leg?" the doctor asked.

"oh, it's much better, thanks! I think I'll be fine without the brace on now," Tucker replied, with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"That's very good to hear! I think you have an epi-pen, too. Did whoever give it to you tell you how to use it?" Tucker nodded, "Very good. Well, Hunter! You take care of yourself and stay away from nuts! And Zara, I think it will be a good idea if you monitor these boys. I have written out a prescription of sleeping pills for Hunter and though he can keep them, you'll need to make sure he takes them every night and gets into bed by about 11pm at the _latest_. Tucker may need some pain-killers for a few nights but his ankle should be completely healed very soon." The doctor explained.

"Very well, thank you, Dr Vlatid." Zara added as the doctor left with a genial wave. "Right, Hunter. I'll give you your packet of sleeping pills tonight. You need to take you AS and ADD medication right now. I brought it with me, here," she pulled out a packet of pills and popped a couple out. She gave these to Hunter, who swallowed them. From the other pocket, she pulled a different set of pills and popped a couple out of this as well. She gave these to Tucker. "This medication is from the man that did your medical assessment. He has given a set of these to me, a set to Mr Pike who'll be the head basic training instructor, and a set to your handler. It's some medication for your ADHD,"

"But I thought it was only mild?"

"Well, yes it is. But, as you're a CHERUB agent, we need you to be completely attentive and focused and on task. Ok?"

"Oh, yeah that makes sense." And he put the tablets in his mouth and swallowed them without water.

"good boy. Now, Hunter. I need to take you to try and do the height obstacle course, because you haven't had the chance to attempt it. So I need to take you down there, and then I need to have a word with Tucker."

Zara took both boys by the hands and led them to the height obstacle course, where they met James and Callum. Hunter relaxed a little, knowing he was with friends, and he allowed himself to be hoisted up the rope ladder, sandwiched between the two older boys.

**Next Chapter has the rest of the long chapter I think…**


	7. Birthday

**Yes, here it is. You know, I haven't been doing these stories for ages and I'm doing it now coz I got a sprained ankle (which isn't an excuse because I wouldn't be doing anything even if I was perfectly healthy). You may be wondering why Zara is mothering the boys, but you won't find out for another couple of chapters. Also, in two weeks I probably will leave the stories again because of the new Harry Potter book.**** There was something else, oh yes. A lot of my stories will have loads of updates very soon, because the summer holidays are almost here, and I must be one of the only people without a valid reason who isn't looking forward to them, -sigh-.**

Zara gripped Tucker's hand again and led the way back to the main building, but they didn't go to her office, they went to Tucker's bedroom.

I think I should explain something. The twins were abused by their father, who was quite smart. He would leave bruises in places covered by clothing, and made them wear long sleeves. He also never brought them Christmas or birthday presents, and since they had no friends or other family, there was no-one else to do that. The night upon which both of the twins' parents died, was not the first time Hunter had been beaten, nor was it the worst. The sad thing is, neither of the boys realised it was wrong, and so they believed that they deserved what they got, and never learnt to try and avoid their father.

Anyway, Zara led the way into Tucker's room and sat on the bed, with Tucker next to her.

"so, it's your birthday in 3 days! What do you want to do?"

"you what?"

"for your birthday? What do you want to do to celebrate it?"

"erm, I've never had a party or anything before. I never got any presents and it wasn't until James mentioned presents that I found out you could get them,"

"really?" of course, Zara already knew this, "well, I suppose you could just have a little get together if you want," there was a knock at the door.

"it's open," Tucker informed whoever was outside. Kyle came in.

"oh, hi Zara! Hey, Tucker, you said you wanted to do this skateboarding?"

"yeah, is that ok, Zara?" Tucker asked.

"of course it is. Just be careful, ok? I don't mind if you don't wear the pads but if you don't, I want you wearing helmets, long sleeves, and jeans. You can't wear your boots either, it would be too awkward. Oh, and keep your ankle brace on," Zara advised, as she left the room to go back to her office.

_**About 3 hours later…**_

Hunter came straight to Tucker's room, after he had made the hair-raising drop at the end of the course. It had taken him ages to complete, as he had panicked and refused to move for an hour. Twice.

Anyways, Tucker looked up as Hunter came in, nursing several cuts from where branches had hit him on the way down. Hunter was surprised to see Tucker also sporting small wounds.

"Wh- ?"

"Skateboarding," Tucker answered, without needing to hear the question. He was very glad he had left his ankle brace on, because he had attempted a kick-flip and missed the board as he landed. It could've made his ankle seriously bad, but he had managed to evade that stroke of bad luck. All of sudden there was a timid knock on the door, and Bruce entered. He was crying.

"I j-j-just came t-to gi-give you th-this l-l-letter," he handed over a piece of paper with a shaky hand, "I'm r-really s-sor-sorry! I r-r-r-really a-am!" he didn't seem to get his words out properly. Hunter read the note, and then looked at Bruce.

"it's fine, honestly. Not everyone remembers everything. I even forget about it myself sometimes. Don't worry, you're still one of my best friends," Hunter gave Bruce a massive grin, which was returned before Bruce turned and left the room.

"what does it say?" Tucker asked.

"it goes: _To Hunter Phoenix, I'm really sorry about what happened. I knew about your allergy and how serious it is. I should have remembered and I was careless and thoughtless to have forgotten something that could have meant costing you your life. James and Zara and Meryl are really angry with me and I hope you can forgive me. Bruce,_"

"so, you're gonna forgive him?"

"of course! It weren't his fault. I never should have accepted it, and anyway, it's stupid to get so angry about something like this!"

"Hunter," Tucker stated, "you know how to be a real friend."

"thanks mate…"

A few hours later (8pm), after both boys had had a shower, Zara came knocking on the door. She gave them their different tablets and informed them that she'd be back at 11 o'clock.

So Hunter and Tucker lay on the bed and watched TV. At 9 o'clock, James and Dana joined them. They were all watching "Bruce Almighty" at 10:30 when Hunter's eyelids started to droop, and he fell into stage one of sleep (very light). James reached for the phone and told Zara she needed to come up and bring his medication.

What Hunter didn't know, was that in the tablets was a certain chemical that stopped him having his strange dreams, while at the same time helping him sleep (but he already knew that they helped him sleep).

Zara arrived at about 10:45 and gently woke him up. She half carried him through to his room, where he drearily changed into his pyjamas and accepted the sleeping pill. As he swallowed it, Zara laid him onto his bed and pulled his quilt up to his chin. Then she moved back to Tucker's room, where she noticed that he, too, was starting to fall into a doze. James and Dana realized that he too was asleep, and James lifted him up as Dana made the bed with the covers pulled back. Then they left Zara to finish the job. She left him wearing what he was wearing (t-shirt and shorts) before taking off his ankle brace and pulling his quilt up to his chin.

The next day (Sunday) passed very uneventfully with both boys staying in their own rooms. Zara came up to them again to give them their medication. As she came up to say goodnight and give Hunter his sleeping pills, she saw Meryl emerge from Tucker's room looking slightly concerned.

"hi, Meryl. What were you doing in there?"

"oh, Kyle came up to find me today; said Tucker had been a bit sick. I tried to find you, but you were tending to another problem. So, I took his temperature and put him in bed. It's not serious, probably a 24hour thing. I hope he's better for his birthday,"

"he should be. Thank you for letting me know," Zara said as she decided to go see Tucker. He was lying in bed, slightly shivering. She put a hand to his head and found he was in cold sweats. After comforting him slightly, she made for Hunter's bedroom. He was sitting bolt upright on his bed, shivering as Tucker had been.

"what's the matter Hunter? Are you ill,"

Hunter muttered something, but Zara couldn't hear. She moved much closer.

"Tucker, he's ill… Makes me ill… Twins…"

"shh shh shh, it's ok; you're just a little delusional. Climb into bed and get some rest. Here you go," she handed him a sleeping tablet, "now close your eyes. You won't have to go to school tomorrow…"

As he shut his eyes, Zara left the room. She went to Meryl's office and asked her to check on them every now and then. Zara had to go home, so she couldn't do it.

When Zara got back to her house, she found that her son, Joshua, was also slightly ill in the same way the twins had been. She thought nothing of it. It was just a coincidence.

_**Throughout the night…**_

Meryl had indeed been checking up on the twins throughout the night. At about 2am, she found that Tucker was no longer in his bed, and found him snuggled up to Hunter in Hunter's bed.

…_**and the next day**_

Tucker stayed in Hunter's bed all through the next day, and they watched DVDs and listened to music. After they started feeling better, they heated up a microwave meal each, and discussed their birthday the next day. It was exciting. Zara came up to see them at 10pm and let them stay in the same room again, but they had to go to sleep. Hunter took his pill and dropped straight off, closely followed by Tucker.

_**25**__**th**__** September**_

Tucker woke up first. It took him a few moments to realise what day it was. He shook Hunter awake and sprang up.

"happy birthday, big bro!"

Hunter smiled drowsily, "happy birthday, little bro!"

Both boys got dressed and made their way down to the canteen. They grabbed some fruit and made their way to their usual table.

"happy birthday, guys," the twins Connor and Callum said from opposite the table.

"yeah, happy birthday! Last day in the red shirt!" James called down the table.

After breakfast everyone set off to their lessons. The twins had history first. Then they had science. Nothing too eventful happened throughout the morning. Since both of the lessons had been doubles, straight after these came lunch.

Everyone was chatting animatedly and having a laugh. Then, all of a sudden, it went quiet at their table. Hunter turned to find the source of silence. Bruce had approached the table.

"hi guys, happy birthday," all the older cherubs were shooting daggers at him.

"hi Bruce! Hey, he's fine, guys. He apologised and I accepted, there was no big deal anyway!" Hunter explained.

"yeah, we knew that!" James said, although for the rest of lunch everyone was being considerably warmer to Bruce.

The last lesson of the day was music for Hunter and art for Tucker. These were their chosen subjects and their favourite things.

Tucker drew a great detailed portrait of him and his brother, with his own eyes staring admirably towards his twin, and Hunter with his arm around Tucker's shoulder. It would be one of his presents to Hunter.

Hunter composed a great version of happy birthday, which he burned onto a disc. He had used sections of other music in the song, and he planned to give it to Tucker as one of his presents.

_**7 o'clock**_

Both boys got called down into the conference room. They were slightly nervous as they pushed open the door and walked into the darkness. All of a sudden, the lights flickered on.

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

It was a surprise party! All of their friends were gathered in a circle, all their hair sprayed into different colours.

"we thought you might appreciate the gesture!" James grinned under his bright blue hair.

"yeah," cried Dana, whose hair was pumpkin orange, "you got presents and everything back here!"

Hunter and Tucker had their own hair sprayed, both into a neon green colour, and then they were treated to "Happy Birthday" sung to them. Someone decided it was time to cut the cake. Or rather, cake_s_.

Hunter's cake was in the shape of an "H". It had black icing, and was decorated with little silver "10"s and music notes. Tucker's cake was a large "T" in shape and had bright red icing and was decorated with little black "10"s and paintbrushes. Each twin blew out their 10 candles, before cutting their cake and having the whole lot cleared.

2 hours later, all the food had either been eaten or stamped into the floor. James then decided that it was present opening time.

Kyle had given both boys a set of toiletries, including Mint Essential stuff. He'd also gotten Tucker a skateboard and set of red and white converse, and given Hunter a beginner's acoustic guitar.

Lauren had given Hunter all three MCR albums, and Tucker got 5 posters with skate logos and skaters on from her.

Dana got Tucker a new box of art supplies, all very expensive looking. She got Hunter a pair of black and white converse and a book on how to play guitar.

Callum and Connor had got each twin a book and also some high tech stuff for their computers, including webcams and microphones.

Shak had got DVDs for both Hunter and Tucker. Hunter got Life on the Murder Scene (MCR's DVD) and Bullet in a Bible (Green Day's Milton Keynes concert). Tucker got jackass first series and a couple of skate fests that had been filmed.

Bruce got both the boys the complete set of Harry Potter books and all the movies (so far. Remember that this is set in late 2007, so the 7th book and 5th movie will have been out).

It looked as though James spent a lot of money. He brought Tucker his own easel and portable skateboard ramps. And he'd got Hunter a set of rollerblades which were made with balls in sockets in stead of wheels, and a DRUMKIT!

And the fun didn't stop there. That night, the whole party went to a skate fest, and then to a professional recording studio.

The twins had had the best birthday EVER! the grinned all through the night, and they couldn't remember being this happy, ever before.

**Wow**** the last three chapters used to be just the one. I'm changing it all now so Hunter is more outgoing-ish. Big surprises on the way…**

**Oh yeah, I'm not finished yet, there's still a long way to go…!**


	8. Changes

**MUHAHAHAHAHA! And we have a comeback! You thought I'd forgotten didn't you, but I was just biding my time till you couldn't see me when u click CHERUB,**** then, BABAYAM! Yeyah… so yeah,… sorry it took so long, I wrote the whole chapter and Hunter got hooked on cannabis but I didn't like it so I deleted it and started again. TeeHee.**

It had been the best birthday ever, not only did they turn another year older and have great birthday presents, they were now blue shirts! After the party, Meryl had approached them with two cellophane wrapped shirts. The boys put them on straight away, glad to have moved one level higher with the t-shirts, but also nervous; this meant that basic training was only a month away.

Vigorous training ensued for the next 3 weeks. Tucker's leg was completely healed, Hunter was having no disturbing dreams, and they were both acting like generally normal boys. Except the whole, training to be a secret agent thing.

So, there was one week to go till basic training, which would begin on all-saints day (1st November). Tucker was rolling down the corridor on his skateboard, when James emerged from his room, looking slightly downtrodden.

'what's up, James?' Tucker asked, looking concerned.

'oh, hey Tucker. It's nothing, really…' but when Tucker looked disbelieving, he admitted what was up. 'it's just that, my 16th birthday happens when you're in basic training, and I really wanted you to be there…'

'that's it? Well, we can celebrate when we come out, though, can't we?' exclaimed Tucker.

'I dunno, maybe. But you and Hunter will be going on missions a lot. No offence, but, you're short. And because you're both so smart, you get into places where older CHERUBs can't get. As you get to my age and height, you look too much like an agent. And there's something else. I have to retire after my 17th birthday. I know that's not till next year, but it flies.' Tucker could see the tears welling up in James' eyes and quickly looked away to wipe his own eyes on his shirt.

'but, I don't want you to leave! Can't you ask to stay, even if you don't do missions?' Tucker whispered.

James laughed, 'They won't let that happen, but there is an option I can take, and I'm going to ask Zara about it now, but I can't tell you about it yet. But I had better hurry, I'll miss my appointment.

**Meanwhile, out in the grounds…**

'I can't!' Hunter sobbed.

'look, it won't be that bad, I'll go with you first time round, and we won't have the siren on, and they won't ask questions…' proposed Mr Pike, head training instructor.

Hunter had to face his fear, and though it didn't have to be done for basic training, the CHERUB staff wanted things over with so they could try and get both boys on missions straight away. Mr Pike was trying to get Hunter to go around into a police car with him and CHERUB security officer. He looked nice enough. Hunter nodded and allowed himself to be put in the front seat with the officer, while Mr Pike got in the back.

_Thank god! I really wouldn't want to put this kid through the tough stuff._Thought Mr Pike, as he shut his door.

'right, Hunter. My name is John and I'll be driving around with you. I want you to tell me when you start feeling more relaxed and then maybe we can have a good ol' chinwag, eh?' said the other man. When Hunter shook his head yes, john started the engine and started going at walking pace. Hunter gripped the sides of his seat, not for one second believing that he would calm down.

The three spent a whole hour driving at the same speed, and though John noticed Hunter's grip on his seat loosened and the expression on his face became more relaxed, he never pushed him into anything. At the end of an hour, John pulled the car to a halt.

'well done, Hunter! I'm very pleased with today. Here take this,' he held out a blue lolly pop, 'careful though, it's sour. There's a lot more where that came from,'

Mr Pike had got out the car and opened Hunter's door, while Hunter took the sugary snack, looked at it for a second, and gave John a nod of thanks. That had been the scariest incident of his life. Except from, well, you know.

'there's no nut traces in it,' Mr Pike smiled as he walked James up to the building. He wasn't too happy when all he got was a nod. 'are- are you all right Hunter? You look very white,' there was a pause, then another nod.

**Back to Tucker…**

Tucker was sitting on his bed drawing a picture. It was of all his new friends at CHERUB. So far it had just been sketched, but he was going to do a proper painting with all the art stuff he got for his birthday, and use it as art coursework. At least one part of it, anyway.

Tucker heard someone come down the hallway. He poked his head out of the door to find Hunter closing his bedroom door. Tucker didn't mind being shut out, he knew where Hunter had just been, knew he needed time on his own.

**The next day (ahem) DUN DUN DUN!**

Tucker was making his way down to the fitness suite, when he saw James coming towards him, a massive grin plastered on his face.

'what are you so happy about?' asked Tucker, realising that the smile was contagious.

'well, I spoke to Zara yesterday, like I said, and she said that once you complete basic training, I might be able to have a mission with you! It'll be one of my last ones, but she thinks that you should have a mission with someone you're used to, first.' James explained.

'oh cool! But I don't know if we are gonna be able to pass this time, everyone says it's really hard,' the 10 year-old voiced what had been worrying him.

'yeah, but that was probably when Mr Large was doing it. It will still be really hard, don't get me wrong, but not as bad as with him. Mr Pike is great!'

'you got any advice?' asked Tucker, though he knew he probably wouldn't get any.

'well, as I'm in a good mood.' James grinned, 'yeah, I think I do! Don't be late whatever you do. I'll sneak down to your rooms at about 5 to make sure you're up. They drop off the kit in your room in the middle of the night, and it has old underwear, socks and boots in it. Don't wear those. Wear your own, you won't get in trouble. The night before I'll help you clean your boots and that. If I remember rightly, Kerry shaved her head before basic training. I know you love your hair, but it'll grow back before training finishes, so you'll get used to it. One more thing, don't eat a massive dinner the night before. Eat lightly, and have a piece of fruit in the morning. The reason for that is that the things you do on the first day could make you sick if your stomach is full. Basically, you and Hunter will probably be partners, so stick with this advice, stick together, don't argue, and you'll be fine. Now I've gotta run, see you later.' And with that he jogged off to the main building, leaving Tucker standing with his mouth wide open.

After he got back to his senses, Tucker resumed his journey to the fitness suite. It was a Friday morning, and he and Hunter had a morning off to train. Hunter was going to come down a little later.

**Back In Hunter's Room**

Hunter had had one of his nightmares during the night, a really strange scary one. Everyone was watching him and asking questions. Grabbing him, searching his pockets. Then, he was all alone, and when he looked around, there were trees and bushes. But, a second glance showed everyone spying on him. There was a song playing in the background, which he recognized as Thank You for the Venom, by MCR. He had it on CD already. As usual, he'd woken at 4:30am.

The only reason he'd had a nightmare, was because he hadn't answered the door to Zara and have a sleeping tablet. Zara had obviously known about his thing with the police car, so left him alone, not insisting he open the door.

**5:30 pm, out in the grounds**

It was that time of day again , when Hunter had to go in the police car.

'right, hello there, Hunter! Ready for another go?' asked John, cheerily. When Hunter nodded, he jumped into the car and shut his door, waiting for the young boy to get in the other side. He was quite surprised when Hunter got in, did up his seatbelt, turned to look at John and said, 'You can go faster today, I don't mind.'

Mr Pike got into the back seat, as before, and also looked surprised at Hunter's apparent burst of braveness. Yesterday, Hunter wouldn't have muttered a single word to anyone, let alone John.

John started his car and set off at a cruising speed. The journey was spent asking simple questions and stuff like that, but Hunter soon got suspicious and stopped answering the questions. That was when Mr Pike decided to end the session for the day.

'ok, I think we should go back now. Hunter needs to start preparing for basic training. It starts in about five days, doesn't it Hunter?' Pike asked.

Hunter nodded, and as soon as the car drew to a halt he jumped out and jogged to the main building. He was glad he didn't have go into that police car for a few months. He decided to pay a visit to Tucker.

**PLEASE REVIEW! I really am sorry about how long I took… xxxxx**


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